UNARMED MAN shot 18 TIMES by police

A 30-year-old West Rand father of two was critically wounded and is in hospital after five police bullets were lodged in his body after a wild car chase across three neighbouring towns.

It was a harrowing experience in which Tshepo Moseki of Kagiso was fired at by the police though he was unarmed and had raised his hands in surrender.

His wife, Maserame Moseki, told Sowetan that 18 bullets were fired at her husband's car.

She asked: "How can the police fire 18 bullets at someone who is surrendering?"

Moseki's wife said her husband's nightmare began in Randfontein on Saturday evening.

"They had no intention of arresting him but wanted to kill him," she said.

The father of a six-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy was shot three times in the neck and twice in the lower back.

His enraged wife said there had been more than 18 police vehicles on the scene.

Tshepo is now fighting for his life in the Leratong Hospital under police guard. Moseki said her husband, who worked as a manager at Transnet in Krugersdorp, was on his way home from visiting a friend in Bekkersdal.

She said Tshepo later told her that he had had a fight with a patron at a tavern, who called his off-duty police friend.

She said the policeman wanted to arrest him but he refused and drove away because the officer was taking his friend's side.

"While he was driving in Randfontein he saw a car following him until he reached Kagiso, where they started shooting at him," she said.

Police spokesman Superintendent Thembi Nkwashu said the police were investigating the circumstances of the shooting.

"It is unusual for the police to shoot at someone who is unarmed. The police claimed he had a shining object in his hand when he got out of his car and they thought it was a gun," she said.

Nkwashu said it turned out that the object was a hand-held radio Tshepo used at his work. She also confirmed that an off-duty policeman had called for backup when Tshepo refused to be arrested.

Moseki showed Sowetan more than 15 used cartridges, allegedly found on the scene.

"I am going to spend New Year's Day without my husband for the first time in three years," she said.